As a keen golfer it seemed appropriate for the Mayor, Cllr Nigel Gibbs, to arrange a charity golf day to raise money for his two nominated charities, Diabetes UK and Macmillan Nurses.

There were fears that the day would be cancelled because of inclement weather but whilst both the ladies' day and Captain's day had been cancelled a couple of days previously the Mayor obviously had greater influence because the day was sunny and warm and the golf was played and enjoyed by all who participated.

87 points in a stableford competition secured the first prize and the Mayor awarded each member of the team with an ice bucket, engraved with the town's coat of arms, and champagne. Second prize of a glass bowl and wine was awarded to the Captain's team and hiball glasses and whiskey were given to the team securing third place. Tony Kershaw hit nearest the pin at the 13th hole, which was appropriately sponsored by the opticians, Ashton & Daniels. The straightest drive went to Sue Parker.

Sponsorship for each hole was generously donated by: Gordon & Margaret Lucas (Deputy Mayor), Geoff Jones, Jonathan Preece, C J Bayliss (Hereford) Ltd, Country Butchers, Lucas Motorcycles, Phil Cutter Electrical, Bowens Garage, JS Carpets, Trevor Griffiths Caterer, W H Polymers, Redbridge Produce, The Chasedale Hotel, Ashton & Daniels, County Collection, Mervyn James, Shawcross & Co and A J Lowther.

Graham Smith, a member of the winning team offered a vote of thanks to the Mayor and said that all had enjoyed a wonderful day's golf; the course was good, the food was excellent and he hoped that the day would become a tradition and continue with next year's Mayor.

Denise Mason, Town Clerk.

Photographs.:
Above: although the Mayor, Nigel Gibbs did not play golf himself, he opened the event with a practise drive.
Below: The W.H. Polymer Team pictured with the Mayor. Left to right - James Holland, Gary Sibley, Bob Silbey, Andy King and Nigel Gibbs.
Bottom: A presentation to 'Tecke,' first prize winners - John Tecke, Tony Kershaw, Graham Smith and Mike Pay.

All photographs of this event are now available to view by golfers in the gallery.

Due to the huge popularity of Wyenot.com, it has been suggested to me on a number of occasions recently by various viewers that I should start a similar thing for other towns and even on a nation-wide basis. I would just like to point out why I do not intend to do this . . .

The reason Wyenot.com is doing so well is because it is not run by a huge 'nine to five' organization. Without the slightest exaggeration, I personally dedicate every minute of my waking existence to maintaining it. This time includes taking photographs, (sometimes waiting around in the cold, rain or at a function for several hours for the precise moment to catch just one shot) writing the articles and programming the html code, not to mention researching by reading in bed and even dreaming about it once I have fallen asleep.

I started Wyenot.com out of a genuine love for Ross-on-Wye and the local area and if I were to start another web site, about Scunthorpe for example, it would considerably dilute the time I am able to spend on Wyenot.com. (Not to mention that I would have to find out whether Scunthorpe really exists, and if so, where it is.) I am sorry but, as much as I would love to, I just do not have the time to create a similar web site about anywhere else without letting this one lapse into obscurity.

A few facts about Wyenot.com:

I began taking the first photographs for Wyenot during April 2000, during the last month of my thirty year employment period with the Ecclesiastical Insurance Office. (Apart from a short break during the early seventies, I had been with 'EIO' since leaving school in 1970, starting work for them at Aldwych House, The Strand, London. I left and then went back.) The idea of photographing Ross in detail came to me whilst walking on the banks of the river with Tina and my three children, Matt, Chris and Sarah.

I dreamed up the idea of adding the regular 'Wyenot News' magazine to this web site whilst soaking in the bath during the early hours of the morning on Monday 12th July 2004. During its first week, Wyenot News became the third most visited area of the web site.

If I had a just a penny for every 'hit' on Wyenot.com since it first began, I would be a multimillionaire by now but would still work on keeping the web site maintained (albeit from a private island, somewhere in the South Pacific)!

During its first week on line, Wyenot.com had less than a hundred visits but this week, according to statistics from Alexa.com, following a climb of 924,967 places during the past three months Wyenot.com is currently the 612,427th most visited internet domain in the whole world.

I am hoping that eventually, one or more of my three children will join me in maintaining Wyenot in readiness for that moment when 'The Reaper' comes to call. I am not banking on it though because my dad wanted me to follow in his footsteps and become a naval architect. (I thought he meant 'navel architect' and did try to learn but I was no good at tying knots.)

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